


when it's time for leavin', i hope you'll understand

by cygnes



Category: The Black Tapes Podcast
Genre: Gen, Urban Legends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-06
Updated: 2016-03-06
Packaged: 2018-05-25 00:21:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6172567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cygnes/pseuds/cygnes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alex does a good deed, and is repaid with another small mystery.</p>
            </blockquote>





	when it's time for leavin', i hope you'll understand

**Author's Note:**

  * For [within_a_dream](https://archiveofourown.org/users/within_a_dream/gifts).



> Originally posted [here](http://manzanas-amargas.tumblr.com/post/138707387085/the-black-tapes-phantom-hitchhiker-andor-ghost) on my tumblr, for the prompt "The Black Tapes, phantom hitchhiker and/or ghost sex?" (I went for the former option.)
> 
> Title taken from the song "Ramblin' Man" by the Allman Brothers Band.

“You’re not actually stopping for her, are you?” Strand said, incredulous. “This isn’t the 1970s, Alex. Normal people don’t hitchhike anymore.”

“Yeah, I’m terrified of a college student who probably weighs a hundred pounds soaking wet,” Alex said, rolling her eyes. “Come on. What’s wrong with being a good Samaritan?” Strand opened his mouth, but she preempted him: “Aside from the religious reference.”

“If she attacks you, I’m not helping,” Strand said.

“I don’t think she will,” Alex said. “But if she does get any homicidal urges, she’ll probably be closer to you, since she’s getting in the passenger side.”

As if on cue, the girl knocked on Strand’s window. To Alex’s disappointment, he didn’t startle. He glared at Alex and then rolled down his window.

“Hi,” the girl said. “I’m Nancy.”

“I’m Alex,” Alex said. “The sourpuss is Richard. Where are you headed?”

“Oh, anywhere,” Nancy said with a smile. She had a gap between her front teeth. “Feels like I’ve been trying to get out of this town forever.”

“Well, hop in,” Alex said. “We’re headed to Seattle. Hope you don’t mind the rain.” Nancy laughed. Her whole face crinkled up.

“I don’t mind at all,” Nancy said.

“You don’t have anywhere to stay?” Strand said sternly. “No plans? No support network?” He had half-turned to stare her down. “You can’t rely on the kindness of strangers indefinitely.” Alex wondered how long it had been since he’d had a similar conversation with Charlie. Probably a long time. Strand would have instilled distrust in his daughter when she was young. (Unless, maybe, Coralee had put her foot down—unless he’d been less hard-edged then, before she disappeared—)

“Got me this far, didn’t it?” Nancy said. Strand frowned at her gap-toothed smile and turned back around.

Alex tried to salvage things. She asked how old Nancy was (nineteen) and what music she liked (rock and hip hop; never folk). Alex talked about her job, and Nancy said she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. Strand, when asked, said he was a professor. He didn’t elaborate. For a while, they just let the radio play.

And it was, you know, normal. A little weird, but mostly fun. Until they stopped at the gas station.

“You want anything inside?” Alex said. No response from the backseat. “Nancy?” She and Strand turned around at the same time, almost knocking heads. The backseat was empty.

They spent the better part of the afternoon with the local police, explaining what had happened. No, they hadn’t heard her get out of the car, but she must have done it right as they pulled into the gas station. Yes, they alerted employees to help them search as soon as they realized. No, they didn’t get a last name; no, they weren’t sure exactly where they had picked her up.

“This is all a little too familiar,” Strand said wearily when their statements had been taken.

“I’m sorry,” Alex said. She couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“It’s nobody’s fault,” Strand said. That wasn’t the kind of ‘sorry’ it had been, but Alex wasn’t going to press the issue.

It took two weeks for the incident to get stranger. Nic, or Nic’s friend, had done some digging and came up with a photograph. Nancy Harrison, age nineteen, disappeared 1992. Alex sent the picture along to Strand without the accompanying details. He responded quickly.

_Very low resolution. It would be easier to tell if she were smiling. Did someone find her?_

Alex hesitated. _No,_ she sent back. _Just trying to figure out where she’s from._

Strand liked ghost stories when they stayed in the realm of fiction, and was willing to admit that urban legends served a social function. Warnings and prohibitions: modern-day fairy tales and morality stories. If it had been any other urban legend, Alex might have pressed the case, tried to get Strand to admit that it might be based in truth.

She didn’t do it with this one, though. Strand already knew better than anyone that sometimes people disappeared and there was no good reason or easy answer.


End file.
